NORTH HAVEN — Even the opposing team’s fans erupted when Avery Waterman scored his 1,000th point.

The North Haven Community School junior point guard likely will remember the moment for the rest of his life.

“I think I got it off a steal,” he said modestly. Dribbling down the court at the head of the pack, he put up “a little lay-up off the rim. Everybody went wild.”

The North Haven team was playing its Fox Islands neighbor Vinalhaven at the rival school’s gym on Jan. 29. Except that the inter-island rivalry isn’t what it used to be.

“I’ve played baseball and soccer for them,” Waterman said of the Vinalhaven school. Scholastic athletics rules in Maine allow students from the small North Haven school to play for the larger Vinalhaven school in sports for which the smaller school doesn’t field teams.

“They know me pretty well,” he said of the Vinalhaven fans. Still, that reaction made Waterman feel “pretty good.”

Cracking the 1,000-point threshold is upholding a family tradition. His father, David Waterman, also scored over 1,000 points in his high school basketball career on North Haven. And David’s brother and Avery’s uncle Paul Waterman also probably reached the same plateau. Avery said Uncle Paul is a dozen years older than David, and such statistics weren’t kept in those years.

The North Haven team, say those who have seen it in action, hums like a well-oiled machine, and as of early February, had a 15-2 record.

“We’ve been all together for awhile,” he said of his teammates. “We know how to play ball together really well.”

Waterman is a 16-year-old junior, so his point total will likely grow. Now 5-foot, 11-inches tall, he feels himself growing stronger. Rather than shoot three-pointers, he is able to drive the ball to the hoop more often, he said.

Some of that strength may have come from fishing. Waterman has his own boat, the Ledgehammer, and hauls 150 traps. This summer, he hopes to have a license that will enable him to fish 300 traps.

But more than adding to his point total, Waterman wants to win, and as point guard, he runs the team’s offense.

“It’s fun to be a leader. I like to win,” he said, and would trade points for a win every time.

Though college is more than a year away, Waterman has heard from coaches. “I’m definitely going to see what my options are then,” he said.